The Daily Cartoonist

This I must see to believe.

This sounds a lot like a BIG RIP OFF of a comic that used a talking mustache on Comicssherpa.com from a coupla years ago.

“The Hovering Mustache of Lee Strasburg” in NAVY BEAN comics on http://www.comicssherpa.com

One of my favorite characters in one of my favorite strips.

Let’s see what else they can steal.

Who exactly reads the comics in Comics Sherpa? I visited your Navy Bean comic and found nothing but a mishmash of words in an impossibly small font and a bloblike character sticking his head out of a mailbox. This is obviously where I’d go if I wanted my next big comedy idea.

I read Comics Sherpa every day.

Navy Bean is a brilliant strip. I think it’s one of the best written strips that’s ever been on Sherpa.

As for this cartoon series, it sounds hilarious.

Dang. I hope someone, ANYONE is reading mine on Sherpa.

Someone cue the little violins, please.

I have a strip on Sherpa, it’s accessible 24/7 & there’s no cover charge.

I like alot of the strips on Sherpa, there’s some good work there. Strips like Green Planet, which is consistently funny and well written.

Just stay away from God awful stuff like oh…say…I dunno… Police Limit.

Hey Garey, I happen to like “Police Limit” by..umm..umm..AW PRUNES, I forgot the cartoonist’s name!

If I got paid to do it (like John Glynn), then I might be willing to sacrifice precious life minutes to wade through the God-awful stuff on Comics Sherpa too.

Police Limit doesn’t have talking or a family so it’s doomed to obscurity.

But meanwhile, back at the topic thread, John Oats has always been outspokenly perplexed by how his mustache in the 80’s took on a sort of iconic life of it’s own. I think this animated cartoon project is a clever nod to the Hall and Oates phenom of the 80’s. Plus they are local boys from Philly so I gotta champion the cause.

wow, that should read “talking pets” up there.

Speaking of Comics Sherpa, did anyone see what the new gocomics format did to it?

Before readers could be reading Cathy or FBOFW & easily quick search the Sherpa titles from those pages, now a reader has to first enter Sherpa via a separate window to see the selection.

The point of Sherpa was to be equally side by side accessible with the syndicated strips, not to be an annex.

>>>The point of Sherpa was to be equally side by side accessible with the syndicated strips, not to be an annex.

No… actually, it’s purpose was and is to suck $ from gullible wannabe cartoonists to post their strips on a site that nobody frequents.

Rick, I use Sherpa as a portfolio site for my strip, mainly because I could pre-schedule the releases, an option only recently added to Blogspot–making Sherpa less necessary for my needs. Truth is I get far greater response to the strip via Blogspot & MySpace–so trust me, I never had grand illusions about Sherpa.

I’ll tell you what would go a long way in improving the quality and consistency of the comics on Sherpa.

If an author does not update his or her strip in over three weeks, that feature should then be automatically dropped from the site’s list of available strips, regardless of that author’s account status.

Garey, Never going to happen–Sherpa isn’t going to implement a policy that could discourage someone from paying the 100 bucks sign-up fee.

“No… actually, it’s purpose was and is to suck $ from gullible wannabe cartoonists to post their strips on a site that nobody frequents.”

Why does P.T. Barnum suddenly leap to mind?

Garey, Never going to happen–Sherpa isn’t going to implement a policy that could discourage someone from paying the 100 bucks sign-up fee.

Do they really charge a $100 sign up fee?? Holy Deliverance, Batman!

At least Ned Beatty got a nice vacation before he was porked…what’s the charge for? The monthly fee should be enough…

….criiiiiipes…

Eric, That is the monthly fee but you have to pay it in non-refundable bulk for either six months or a full year–you can’t bail out with only a $10 or $20 loss.

>>> not to be an annex.

More like a trailer park in tornado alley.

Sigh..

Sigh..I’m getting the impression that some of you guys have negative opinions on Sherpa.

All this would be worth it on Comics Sherpa if there was a decent sized audience that visit it. Does anyone happen to have any stats or figures on how many people visit the Comics Sherpa part of gocomics daily?

>>>>Does anyone happen to have any stats or figures on how many people visit the Comics Sherpa part of gocomics daily?

Just a perfunctory visit to the site and a glance at about 25 sherpa features randomly chosen illustrates a complete lack of talent. Not one feature made me want to see 2 consecutive days. Just looking at how some were drawn was cringe inducing. Why would anyone got there and waste their time looking at poorly drawn atrociously written elementary school scribblings is beyond me.

It ticks me off that a major syndicate is exploiting desperate amateurs in this way. But then I remember the old adage that noone can take advantage of you without your cooperation.

>>>I’m getting the impression that some of you guys have negative opinions on Sherpa.

I think what astounds many of the pros who feel this way is that the amateurs that fall for this scam don’t concur.

Ask yourself one one question. If you were sitting at a table having drinks with Mike Peters, Lynn Johnston, Garry Trudeau or Steve Brodner would you be proud to tell them that you have a feature on Comics Sherpa?

Your answer would clarify how much respect you’d deserve for your work. If your answer was Yes, you’re a rank amateur and if it was no, why be a part of it in the first place?

I have ultimately far more respect for cartoonists who create a web presence for their features and promote it on their own…Yes I’m talking about the Scott Kurtz’s and Dave Kelletts out there.

Gee, I started out on Comics Sherpa.

Thank God there are big, smart, strappin’ guys like Rick and Wiley to point out how I and other Sherpa-ites have no talent and are gullible idiots.

P.S. Wiley, the quote you’re thinking of was never uttered by PT Barnum.

Doug eat Doug was picked up by Creators wasn’t it? For the vast majority of features that appear in Sherpa, it’s pretty obvious that Universal has no intention of syndicating any of them. Doug eat Doug would have been picked up regardless of your Sherpa “exposure” Brian. It obviously stood out. But the sherpa folks at Universal were doing you no favors. You can take offense to what I or anyone here says about Sherpa, but at least we’ll tell you what you need to hear, no holds barred as opposed to telling you what you want to hear. It may seem blunt, but in the long run it’s a bit more honest than anything Sherpa will be telling you while they cash your checks.

You obviously have talent, but you certainly were gullible thinking Universal charging you money to give them web content was going to do anything for you professionally.

Rick, Are you saying my work is induces cringing? Or that my work doesn’t deserve respect by your ’standards’? Or that I’m a gullible pigeon because I use Sherpa along with my own site? It’s very easy to find 25 random stinkers on Sherpa so generalizing every strip guilty defeats your argument.

If you bothered reading my earlier post I noted using Sherpa because I could bulk down load for specific release dates which blogspot couldn’t do until recently.

Do most of their strips suck? No one has EVER debated that. Have there been some good strips? Yes, including a few that are now print or web syndicated (guess they achieved success despite themselves).

And no, I never had the opportunity to sit down with Mike Peters & proclaim that I’m on Sherpa, but I have heard from other syndicated cartoonists & animators contact me to compliment the strip–guess they were slumming it or offered kind words out of pity.

My post was a consumer note on their change of service, but as you pointed out–what difference could this change make anyway.

The gullibility aspect of Comics Sherpa is where people somehow think this is going to be a faster track toward syndication. I can understand that desperation.

But there is a positive aspect to Comics Sherpa in developing one’s self in cartooning, and that is to use as nothing more than a training camp in testing yourself to produce a daily feature. When we first start out in developing a comic strip, we have absolutely no clue on what it’s really like to produce a syndicated comic strip. We all just work it out in our spare time, then after a while package it up and submit it to the syndicates, dreaming about what a great and easy job it’ll be to just draw cartoons every day for a living instead of a regular job at an office. If your feature is offered a contract by a syndicate, you’re euphoric. And it keeps getting more exciting as you work your way up to the launch of the strip. Then, after a couple of months or so in publication, you discover the reality of deadlines, as the advance work you’ve done is all gone and you’re still working on a schedule of doing cartoons when you feel like it.

It’s happened to ALL of us, even seasoned pros in another field of cartooning who develop a syndicated strip.

So my advice is to use Comics Sherpa for your own use, without any thoughts of anyone else reading it. Pretend that the feature is in syndication and that you have to produce six dailies for at least 3 weeks in advance, and assess how well the material holds up. Do the gags and/or storylines get better as you go along or does it wane? Does the feature run into a creative dead end or do the ideas keep coming as you venture further into feature? This is how you find out if you’re cut out for this venue or not.

And Brian, I note in your attempt to make yourself out to be a victim that you didn’t say anything to refute the accuracy of anything Rick or I said. That actually validates our assessment. What we are trying to do is help young cartoonists find their way, and a big part of that is trying to steer them away from things that are just going to waste their time and, in this case, money. I have been in continuous syndication since 1980. I have a pretty good idea of what it takes to get there and, more importantly, to stay there. Rick is also a seasoned pro who knows his way around. So if you want to dismiss what we have to say and play the victim role, that’s entirely up to you. I know that’s a very popular position to take on internet chat boards, as the snark factor rules supreme here.

Or you can learn something… something of a rarity in this so-called information age. It’s entire up to you.

Rick, So what you’re saying is–regardless on how talented Brian is, his route to becoming one of the hottest cartoonists today is invalid because he was on Sherpa?

Think I’ll stick with Mr Anderson as an inspitration–no offense, Rick.

Argyle Sweater started on Sherpa … and he launched in 135 papers with a calendar deal less than 2 years later.

I’m not saying there isn’t any truth to the criticisms … but there are at least a couple of success stories that shouldn’t be dismissed.

“You obviously have talent, but you certainly were gullible thinking Universal charging you money to give them web content was going to do anything for you professionally.”

So now you’re insulting and psychic. How did you know what I was thinking when I signed up?

Wiley, Posting on Sherpa is like when the Marx Bros or Jack Benny started in small-time vaudeville. You fine tune your act with the ulitmate object of someday playing The Palace.

But, regardless if most of the strips suck or traffic doesn’t reach the millions–people on there should get the format they paid for, to be on the main page & not a seperate pop-up.

Typo:

You fine tune your act with the ulitmate OBJECTIVE of someday playing The Palace.

“Posting on Sherpa is like when the Marx Bros or Jack Benny started in small-time vaudeville.”

Yes, that was pretty much my point of using it as a training ground, Larry. It can be very useful in this way.

Now I’m a victim hiding online. Great. More insults.

Any day you or Rick want to call me gullible or a victim or snarky to my face, please feel free.

“And Brian, I note in your attempt to make yourself out to be a victim that you didn’t say anything to refute the accuracy of anything Rick or I said. That actually validates our assessment.”

You guys said sherpa cartoonists were gullible and had no talent.

I AM REFUTING THAT!

If you’re going to sling insults, at least be man enough to stick to it. Don’t start trying to spin it around when someone actually calls you on it.

IMO, Comic Sherpa was an ingenious way for the syndicates to make some cash. From what I have read, they get about 6,000 submissions a year. $100.00 x 6,000 equals a number that would make me want to start Comic Sherpa.

My initial fear of Comic Sherpa was that they picked a few of the top talents and gave them a development contract and that’s it - and I was worried that they did that just to dangle a carrot and keep the natives from getting restless. It’s good to finally read that there were some success stories from it - that made it all the way to the big leagues.

Just remember, Comic Sherpa can also backfire on you - if you don’t maintain a consistent schedule, the syndicate may take note of that and think you don’t have what it takes to maintain a daily routine.

Yah, Jason, a lot of great strips have come out of Sherpa.

However for me, Sherpa was just part of my overall marketing for the strip. My background is online marketing, so when I started DeD as a webcomic I was always looking to try out different avenues for promotion.

Now it wasn’t the most successful of my campaigns, but it did bring in a lot of readers and traffic to my main site.

Jason, You don’t submit to Sherpa, you pay ‘em & you’re posted. I recall one strip they did pull due to content.

You may be mixing the 6,000 figure with Universal Press Syndicate’s print submissions numbers. Sherpa doesn’t carry anything close to that.

It’s pretty easy to spot members of the back-slapping Sherpa Brotherhood on this site. I particularly get a kick out of how proud they are for “graduating” from Sherpa. Inexplicably sad.

>>>>“Posting on Sherpa is like when the Marx Bros or Jack Benny started in small-time vaudeville.”

Jack Benny and the Marx Brothers didn’t pay vaudeville theaters to perform their acts in public. The analogy is a bit faulty.

>>>Rick, So what you’re saying is–regardless on how talented Brian is, his route to becoming one of the hottest cartoonists today is invalid because he was on Sherpa?

Who said anything about Brian’s work being invalid because of Sherpa? If you read my post with open eyes you’d see that Doug Eat Dog and Argyle Sweater are exceptions to the rule that Sherpa features are mostly cr@p. They would’ve gotten launched without it.

>>>You guys said sherpa cartoonists were gullible and had no talent.

Of the 25 or so features amongst the several dozen there I looked at, that statement is true. Whether any one of those were yours, I don’t know, I didn’t pay attention to the authors.

What I actually wrote was ” FOR THE VAST MAJORITY of features that appear in Sherpa, it’s pretty obvious that Universal has no intention of syndicating any of them.”

Historically, that has been true. I stand by that statement.

When I write Vast majority it means that there will always be a couple of diamonds in the rough. My point was that those diamonds would most likely have gotten a syndication deal regardless of Sherpa. Argyle Sweater and Dog eat Doug are the exceptions, obviously. In Your features case Brian, you got a deal from an entirely different syndicate. Which proves my point. That for the vast MAJORITY of comics on sherpa, Universal has no intention of syndicating any of them.

There’s no way you can convince me or any other professional cartoonist that paying a syndicate to have your work on their site is a savvy business move. It’s worse than giving away content for free. You’re PAYING to give content to a syndicate. That’s generally considered a bad business move in most circles. Even if you use Wiley’s model and have sherpa be a training ground to see if you can hack the daily output that syndication demands, you shouldn’t have to pay for the priviledge. You can do that on your own for free. Or if in a proper development deal, the syndicate should be paying YOU to develop this skill, just as they have in the past with every other feature that’s been launched over the past decade or so.

I’m on YOUR side whether you think so or not. I’ve always been against Sherpa because it exploits artists. And I’d say it to your face Brian (whatever that implies)… Pointing that out may pi$$ you off but it doesn’t invalidate anything I’ve said.

“It’s pretty easy to spot members of the back-slapping Sherpa Brotherhood on this site. I particularly get a kick out of how proud they are for “graduating” from Sherpa. Inexplicably sad.”

Great, another insult slinging know it all. I didn’t “graduate” from Sherpa. Sherpa was just a small part of marketing for my strip. A lot of my present day readers found me on Sherpa.

But that, along with my other campaigns helped build a sizable, international audience.

And I’ve always been willing to share those strategies with other cartoonists, as opposed to calling them gullible, snarky, or inexplicably sad.

“There’s no way you can convince me or any other professional cartoonist that paying a syndicate to have your work on their site is a savvy business move. It’s worse than giving away content for free. You’re PAYING to give content to a syndicate. That’s generally considered a bad business move in most circles.”

Again, Sherpa was part of my overall marketing. Now it wasn’t the largest part, but at the time, cost wise, it was a great deal for the amount of readers I was getting.

So in a lot of business circles, that’s a very good move.

You and Wiley jumped the gun with too many assumptions and now have to back track on everything you’ve stated.

If you had assumed from the beginning that maybe, just maybe, some cartoonists were smartly using Sherpa for exposure and to build a reader base it would’ve saved you the trouble. And possibly given some cartoonists a new avenue to explore.

Okay, done with the name calling mamby-pambies. Really, third grade was a long time ago for me.

On to giving some helpful advice:

Just like any marketing campaign, you test it out. Now first off, in order to track traffic from Sherpa, I had my own site set up. That made it easy for me to toss Sherpa in the spreadsheet with other campaigns.

Now obviously, unlike for example, adwords, you don’t have any control over the traffic. But you can see how loyal the traffic is as opposed to a banner campaign or other advertising.

Like I said before, Sherpa was not my no. 1 souce of traffic, but the returning visits stats were at the top. That, along with the cost made it a very successful campaign.

>>>Great, another insult slinging know it all.

And nobody’s insulting you. It’s pretty much a consensus that DED deserved syndication and that you are a talented cartoonist. Stop being so thin skinned. Nobody’s denegrating your work.

The belief here is that you didn’t need Sherpa.

The derogatory comments here are directed at the Sherpa process itself and the vast majority of the garbage features that are posted there.

I agree with Rick that there is a lot of junk to wade through out on Sherpa. I think that there should be filters in place for comics that haven’t updated in x amount of days/months/whatever.

But, I have to admit, Sherpa was great exposure from a web standpoint. It definitely helped my first feature get off the ground and get some eyeballs on it.

I don’t know why it’s so impossible for some folks to just let people push their work the way they see fit without being made to feel like a slob for doing it. You don’t like Sherpa. We get it. There are way more important things to whine about.

Exactly the point, Mike.

Don’t jump to the belief that everyone on Sherpa is gullible and being taken advantage of.

Take off the blinders and you might learn something. I would’ve dropped Sherpa in a heartbeat if it wasn’t paying off for me.

“Even if you use Wiley’s model and have sherpa be a training ground to see if you can hack the daily output that syndication demands, you shouldn’t have to pay for the priviledge. You can do that on your own for free.”

Yes, absolutely. One can, and should, do this on their own, but some people need an extra incentive to put themselves in the mindset of producing as though their on deadline.

The do it yourself method is one I’ve mentioned here before, where you test yourself by setting a goal of producing a month’s worth of dailies (26 cartoons) with a two week deadline. This simulates real life deadline pressure in syndication. Then set that work aside for a week or so, then go back and look at it with as objective an eye as possible too assess the quality and consistency of the work. If you struggle to produce that when the feature is fresh, then you’ll never be able to produce it on down the line.

And, Brian… you really need to read the posts more carefully. They are not insulting you. They are general criticism. You still haven’t said anything that refutes the accuracy of the criticisms. Just saying “I refute that” doesn’t refute anything. Of course there has been some quality work on Comics Sherpa, and some features that have moved up to syndication. But they didn’t reach success because they were on Comics Sherpa. I would think that they would have attained the same thing had simply been developed and submitted the way we all had done in the past.

Beware Romans baring gifts..

Rick, I’m probably older than you are so please don’t push your opinions as guidance or consumer protection–there are far more worthy a School of Visual Arts freshmen who may find your ‘tough love’ more welcoming.

Larry - sorry my initial post wasn’t clear. Yes, I meant that syndicates get roughly 6,000 submissions a year - so that’s a lot of submissions that might possibly use their Sherpa service.

Wiley, Rick — it’s certainly not that you aren’t right. You are. It’s certainly not that you aren’t respected. You are successful veterans in an uber-competitive field. And veterans, I might add, who continue to grow and produce original work, which is even more impressive.

But the John Houseman routine is becoming, well, tiresome. It’s not wrong to call crap crap. I don’t presume to ask you to sugarcoat or head down the treacherous path of political correctness. But why not share the advice without the baiting insults? Or perhaps like a curmudgeon college professor, that is your intention in order to toughen up the students. If this is the case, I must say, that whole “don’t play the victim, Brian” bit was a passive-aggressive gem. Bravo!

“No… actually, it’s purpose was and is to suck $ from gullible wannabe cartoonists to post their strips on a site that nobody frequents.”

“Why does P.T. Barnum suddenly leap to mind?”

These are Rick and your words.

What I have refuted is your assumption that Sherpa cartoonists are gullible and suckers (and again, PT Barnum never said the quote you’re referencing).

Then I went one and offered my advice on how I used Sherpa for marketing my strip.

I’d love to see more positive ideas as opposed to carpet bombing other cartoonists with nasty assumptions.

“And nobody’s insulting you.”

And for crying out loud, I don’t care if anybody insults me. I spent ten years of my life in the ring. I can take a punch. I took umbrage to the blanket assumptions tossed at a group of cartoonists.

Wiley, Another point is for a lot of people Sherpa is a less costly & time consuming option (people do have day jobs).

Going back to the quality issue, without question most Sherpa strips are bad–most ANYTHING is bad, but that doesn’t make the concept of Sherpa invalid–it’s the ‘open enrollment’ that should change.

>>>But the John Houseman routine is becoming, well, tiresome.

Mr Hart, here’s a dime. Call your parents and tell them there is serious doubt of you ever becoming a syndicated cartoonist.

I have to agree with John Auchter. I’ve been on countless of cartooning forums and I’ve seen these threads develop countless of times. Surely after so many times, Wiley & Rick, you have to re-examine the way your posts come across and maybe rephrase things? You can’t possibly think that so many different aspiring cartoonists are just misreading your threads and it’s all some kind of cosmic coincidence.

Rick Stromoski: “Ask yourself one one question. If you were sitting at a table having drinks with Mike Peters, Lynn Johnston, Garry Trudeau or Steve Brodner would you be proud to tell them that you have a feature on Comics Sherpa?

Your answer would clarify how much respect you’d deserve for your work.”

Just to be clear, I have not used Comics Sherpa. However, if it was part of my marketing to further my goals, even having had paid a small fee for the exposure to drive traffic to my feature, yes, I would. In the same way I would tell them that my first real cartooning gig was having a single-panel cartoon published in my hometown weekly newspaper, for free. A paper that served a measly 1855 people. And then from that freebie, as part of my marketing to get published and “move up,” I would tell them I then approached another weekly paper in the next town, but offered my cartoon for $10 a cartoon, which they took. And then I’d tell them that I took that and worked up the confidence to approach Jay Kennedy at King “The New Breed” years ago, and he bought about 5 of my toons. and then I’d tell them how I took that confidence, and took a batch of my work to the daily newspaper in the next city, and offered my panel cartoons to them, and they turned me down. And so I tweaked my approach, because I had gained confidence in myself, and offered more… cartoons, illustrations… and they asked if I could do editorial cartoons, and I said yes. And they hired me at $25 a cartoon weekly for editorial cartoons. And how that gave me the confidence to approach them about working for them full-time a few months later, and they turned me down. 3 times. And I kept at ‘em, and offered to do grunt work in the backshop, if they’d let me do my cartoons as part of the job. And it worked. And I did it. And won awards. And 6 months later, I was promoted out of the backshop and into a full-time editorial cartoon position, with a hefty raise, as well as doing a daily gag cartoon on Page 1, and newsroom illustrations, eventually for the whole company of 450 newspapers nationwide. And I took that to syndication with Scripps Howard, Artizans, magazines, newspapers, websites, published a book or two, and eventually wound up working for Jim Davis on Garfield, while also becoming successful with my own online webcomics, etc through CBS/STARTREK.COM, and others. I’d be proud to tell of how I worked my ass of any way I could to make it in my chosen field. And know what? I have actually talked to Lynn and Mike Peters, and even Sparky and of course Jim Davis, and many others. And what I got from them, even in my early days of struggle, was a gracious, positive and inspiring thumbs up to keep pushing, work hard, meet deadlines, get better, study the masters and keep trying. And I was treated with far more respect and inspiration than anyone will find from Wiley Miller or Rick Stromoski on these boards.

Sparky once told me that the best thing to do is go to your local newspaper and offer a batch of your cartoons, and work your way up from there. Of course, now, there are many other options, Sherpa among them.

Sorry for the long diatribe. But my point is, you do what you have to do to make it. You work hard at it. Rick, Wiley, you know that better than anyone. Young amateurs who may be “gullible” as you say (and yes, some are, they’re not pros YET, not all… it’s a risky business. I would call them “Hungry” before calling them gullible.) and unpolished today at Sherpa, may be the Schulz and Davis and Stromoskis of tomorrow. You can’t diss that.

You offer up your “helpful” advice to young cartoonists, yet you come off like know-it-all curmudgeons who have all the answers and anyone who does otherwise is a gullible moron whom you denegrate with your comments.

Sometimes all a young cartoonist has are dreams and high hopes. When we become professionals, we learn the ropes, the realities. It can be daunting. The odds are hard, near impossible. But not impossible. But you press on, and if you do, and improve, you just might make it.

So, young cartoonists, if Sherpa works for you, and you are willing to spend your herd-earned bucks on it so the syndicate might exploit your money (and yes, they are), yet offer you an actual place to improve, show your stuff, grow a thick skin from the criticism, (and these boards) and offer you a way to get a taste of deadlines and readers demanding your work to a higher standard than just a hobby, do it. But don’t set your eggs in that basket alone. Build a website of your own. Spend that hard-earned money on a URL for your comic. Start a free blog. Go to your local newspaper. Seek out magazines and greeting card companies and other viable outlets for your work that WILL pay you. Educate yourself not only in your craft of writing and drawing, but also in business and promotions. Not good enough just yet? Stay at it. Bust your ass. Mort Walker once said he always felt he had to work twice as hard as the next guy, and that it would make him a success. It worked. You have to do that. The cream always rises to the top. This ain’t kid’s stuff. Use Sherpa to gain feedback and criticism. Improve.

The rest of us await your polished comics work. ;-)

It’s great when I hear (in private or via email) from noted cartoonists & animators but the feedback that counts the most (to me anyway)are from the average reader. They are the ones who make or break us.

Rick, To answer your earlier question: Yes, Lynn Johnston actually did critique my Sherpa work. She daringly had all positive things to say other than I should go from single-2 panel dailies to 3-4 so readers could spend more time getting to know the characters– nothing about being me being lowly Sherpa rift-raft.

I’m trying to stay out of this – but I take umbrage with the accusations being made there. Massive umbrage. An umbrage so big I’ve had to stop wearing legwarmers because … well, that’s another story. I digress.

I’m sorry there are people here who think we’re swindling cartoonists. “Swindling”? Really? Feels a bit hyperbolic to my delicate ears.

Here are some facts:

We charge $8.25 a month per cartoonist. There’s no sign-up charge. There are 150 or so cartoonists active at any month – that’s $1250 a month to run the whole site … not really a good business model. The ads are bought on a bigger buy from our network of sites – and the Sherpa traffic is dwarfed by the bigger sites we run, so the ad revenue helps, but again hardly worth the effort to manage and maintain. If we had to decide whether to run the site or not due to the profit/loss statement we would shut it down.

We do it for two “business” reasons. 1) There’s a “first right of refusal” built into the agreement when you sign up. It doesn’t mean we automatically get the rights if we want them, it means that if someone else approaches you and is interested, you have to be sure we’re not interested. Don’t like that idea? I understand. Let’s agree to move on. But if you hadn’t heard from us before you’ve been given an offer from another entity, I doubt we would — and to this point, have not, gotten in the way. Even if we did, now you have two suitors … increasing your leverage in negotiations. It’s not matching rights, it’s first right of refusal, there’s a big difference. 2) It gives us a great way to monitor a strip’s progress and growth. And yes, there are only 5 to 10 strips we actively monitor at any one time, but that list changes. We get a lot of submissions where the first 36 strips are great … then the next 36 not so much … then the next 36?? Hmm. — “Is this the same person?” This helps us do some weeding.

We’ve debated the whole subscription price back and forth till we’re blue in the face here. There’s a large contingent here who thinks there should be no charge, others think that if we lower the bar/cover charge the quality on the lower end will get even lower and it’ll be even harder for readers to find the good comics. So, right now, we’re settled that the cartoonist has to at least show the commitment to a $9 a month to post. But that could and probably will change … we’re always examining.

I take further umbrage with the no traffic claim. The Top 10 Sherpa strips in traffic would be in the lower 80-85 percentile – yes, toward the bottom but ahead of many “professional” syndicated features if they were on gocomics.com. That’s all based on their work … no promotion … no handsome syndicate marketing their work.

Argyle Sweater’s traffic after a few months on Sherpa and then gocomics put it the Top 20 percent of all everything on the site. To me that’s what the site is all about … build a good comic and the audience will come. Build a bad comic or quit after a week … well, you know.

And if you can build an audience on the Web here (or anywhere) it can be a great part of the sales story – it certainly was with Argyle Sweater. Any piece of data that we can use in the sales pitch helps these days … anything. Newspaper editors are in a bad spot and buying a new comic these days (no matter what the quality) seems to be less and less a priority … the more ammo we can give them the better.

If a creator could start his/her own site for $100 a year and get all everything Sherpa offers with zero back-end work … GO DO IT! Sherpa isn’t perfect and not for everyone. I have a ton of respect for guys like Kellett and Kurtz … they’re talented and smart and have committed resources and time to build their brand and their sites. And if you’re at the same place as those guys, follow their model, if not Sherpa is a convenient, no mess option. But this isn’t a swindle, it’s an opportunity … getting paid to do your comic is a long shot … and this is one option … but we’ve never claimed that signing up is gonna make your comic better.

I had a friend who used to offer me guidance with geniune thoughtfulness & humor, his name was Mark Cohen. This gentleman on every level, professionally & personally, was an inspiration to me! Though Mark passed away before there was a Sherpa, I wouldn’t be doing AW PRUNES! without his encouragement and for that I’ll always be grateful.

Rick, The route you’re taking is very negative & serves no purpose other than venting your opinions under the mask of guidance. I like your strip but I’m very disappointed by your posts.

“Mr Hart, here’s a dime. Call your parents and tell them there is serious doubt of you ever becoming a syndicated cartoonist.”

See, this is exactly the type of thing that the folks on here are complaining about. Everybody on this board had to start somewhere.

Who gives a rats @$$ how long you’ve been at your craft. It doesn’t give you the right to try and make them feel like worms. Keep it to yourself once in a while. Contrary to your belief, not everyone cares what you think.

To follow-up on John’s post, Universal Press Syndicate indeed shows up a few times a month on my Site Meter. They absolutely do keep tabs on the strips, including offering Editor’s Picks every few weeks.

I’ve been trying to stay out of this too, John, but I do feel I have something to add. The internet is a huge highway system. The road going to my site is a dirt road. The road going to Gocomics is a superhighway with an exit that says”Comic Strip Lovers Exit Here”. Hmmmm…….Which site would I like to post my strips on?

And Rick, didn’t you say on another board that you had never had a strip rejected by a syndicate? That might explain your lack of understanding in what it is like to be like most of the rest of us. We are aspiring and we are hopeful. We are talented and we want to be validated.

For those who don’t like seeing Sherpa strips that haven’t been updated in a long time, there is an option to view a list of comics in order of most recently updated.

John Glynn wrote:

“I take umbrage with the accusations being made there. Massive umbrage. An umbrage so big I’ve had to stop wearing legwarmers because …

“We charge $8.25 a month per cartoonist. There’s no sign-up charge. There are 150 or so cartoonists active at any month…It gives us a great way to monitor a strip’s progress and growth. And yes, there are only 5 to 10 strips we actively monitor at any one time, but that list changes. We get a lot of submissions where the first 36 strips are great … then the next 36 not so much … then the next 36?? Hmm. — “Is this the same person?” This helps us do some weeding.”

Well, John, see this is where I take umbrage. Traditionally this model was once called a “development period” where a syndicate interested in a feature would PAY the cartoonist to see if they could sustain the rigors of putting together a daily feature. It wouldn’t be much, anywhere between $2k and $4k for 3 months work but the syndicate would still pay for the priviledge of having a cartoonist develop a feature under their tutelage with a right of first refusal rider attached to it.

To me and most professional cartoonists this is taking advantage of unschooled cartoonists’ who don’t know any better. If Wiley or I came to you with a new feature you can be sure we would not work under the conditions that Comics Sherpa artists are asked to work under. We would get paid for our development deal. You say you pay attention to 10 or so features…then you must know darn well you have no intention of doing anything for the other 150 or so amateurs whose checks you’re cashing every month.

And let’s be honest here. The PRIMARY motivation for artists participating in Comics sherpa isn’t to bring readers to your feature or website but to get a syndication deal. And the syndicate befifits from charging artists for web content and free development deals that they normally should be paying for the few features that show some promise.

And my John Houseman quote was posted to lighten up things up so Witmer take a chill pill. I’m on your side you ding dong.

I used to be a Sherpa guy, but stopped after the full paid year.
At this point, I’m probably no furthur, and no more back, than I was when I was on Sherpa.
I’ve got one of those “dirt road” sites Steve S mentioned. Sure, i may be lost in the sea of the internet, but at least I can promote myself better (with a somewhat proper sounding webadress).
Whereas, with Sherpa, I was lost in the sea of really lame scribbles no one in their right mind would call comics (I’m being literal here), with a web address that was way too long and complicated and scared people off. (something a long the lines of http://www.comicssherpa.com/site/feature?uc_comic=abcde... Catchy, eh? Looks even better on a business card.)

Plus, from what I saw, the only Sherpa surfers seemed to be other members, and they, in turn, stole each others jokes at a ridiculous rate! (It really reminded me of theose “Have your poems published in this book!” things, which you’d pay $20 for, and get a book of badly written poems, by no discernable talents, who also spent $20 for the privilege… and they’re the only customers!

“And my John Houseman quote was posted to lighten up things up so Witmer take a chill pill. I’m on your side you ding dong.”

It’s like a little mouthy 4th grader who runs around calling people names, then when people stand up to them they say “Gosh golly, calm down. I’m just playing”.

Then they go right back to picking on people.

Let’s all just concede Rick and Wiley are just smarter than everyone else.

That way the rest of the gullible, snarky, sucker, ding dong (did I miss any?) cartoonists can get back to discussing actual ideas that can grow your cartooning business.

Rick, get real. It’s a different world, a different market out there. In defense of Sherpa, they do have bandwisth issues, and do provide a template for cartoonists to unleash their wares. Look at the newspaper market. It’s tough. And while they keep their eye on those 10 or so comics, those other 150 had and have every chance to catch attention too. The cream rises to the top, just like the slushpile of mail-in submissions Universal or United Media, etc deal with. Only this is a public way of developing one’s feature.
Of COURSE the primary goal for a cartoonist is to get syndicated through Sherpa. Some have. Some very GOOD ones (i.e., Dog Eat Doug, Argyle Sweater, etc). And some use it as a promotional tool.
The models are changing out there. Savvy cartoonists, even amateurs do what they have to in an every changing and demanding market.
One thing you have to say for every single Sherpa cartoonist at Comics Sherpa, that has not been said: “They’re DOING it.”
INstead of dreaming and sitting and wishing, they paid some cash upfront to risk humiliation, criticism, accolades, improvement. They are actually writing and drawing, for all to see, damn the consequences. That, in itself, even to me as a professional, is inspiring, and I say “Here, here” to them all.

I wonder how many more great cartoons would be out there if everyone didn’t feel the need to “discuss” every nook, cranny and crack of this crumby industry.

I’m starting to realize all these forums and blogs just plain suck. They suck you in and then they suck the fun out of everything.

I dig what Alan does here with the news and updates, but I wonder if comments section is such a good idea.

I also wonder why I’m not playing right field for the Yankees, so its possible I’m just blowing in the wind.

Blowing to suck.

Rick, not that I think you’ll listen to anything I have to say, but here it is: Sherpa doesn’t force anyone to pay. They don’t hold a gun to anyone’s head. What they offer is a site with a high volume of traffic that will give a new artist (or an established artist for that matter) a wider visibility almost instantly. Sure, sherpas could build a site and pay for advertising and pay for marketing and spend countless hours on the internet networking (and in most cases they will even after they launch on sherpa).

But sherpa provides a chance to get feedback from readers and other artists who are much in the same boat as they are.

You come across so aggressively on this topic. It’s almost like you think Sherpa is forcing people to shell over the money. It’s ridiculous. You have made some decent points in between the badgering and the stupid-ass comments. If you could just stick to the good points, people might actually hear ya.

This is so strange, because I recall a discussion from another thread on this very website where Rick and Wiley and Ted Rall insisted I bring them evidence of print cartoonists crapping on the work of webcartoonists.

I guess my search for that evidence continues.

*ahem*… Let’s all take a ten minute break and cool down. I want to make sure Alan has a site to come home to after his vacation — not the remnants of a nasty bar room brawl.

Corey, first of all, might I say that I have noted in just about every post you toss into these forums that you consistently use the terms “you people suck,” “cartoonists suck,” “cartoonists are idiots,” “I hate this industry,” “I hate other cartoonists,” and in this very last post “this crummy industry.” Which baffles me considering I enjoy your comics, and you do very well with your various works. If you hate it so much, why, my friend, do you continue? Stop and smell the roses, buddy! ;-)

And Scott, you have found your evidence here. Case in point, cause, um, yeah, Wiley and Rick have a knack of waiting atop a tree like Snoopy in vulture mode, or like Lucy holding a football in an open field, ready to pounce on any Charlie Brown cartoonist hopeful and inspired to kick the cartooning football and be what they were born to be.
Rick, if someone sat you down and told you all the impossilities of becoming successful when you were just starting (and I’ll wager some did), would you have quit? No, I doubt it. Chill out, dudes. We’re all in this together, to better each other. Not crap atop others’ heads who think differently, or have the brains to see that the traditional ways of entering this wonderful industry have changed, will change, andthat we all must acclimate to it.

If you’re looking to find readers of your strip or to possibly increase the number of readers, it’s the easiest $100 to spend on a little “marketing”, if that’s what you want to call it. I mean, come on! The EASIEST $100!!!! Now, having said that, I find today that it takes 4 clicks to get to my strip on Sherpa. What are they thinking over there?

.>>No… actually, it’s purpose was and is to suck $ from gullible wannabe cartoonists to post their strips on a site that nobody frequents.

Rick, this is your original post. Which I thought was both mean-spirited and ill-informed. I felt like I’ve successfully explained that we do not do it for the money. And that some of these “wannabee” cartoonists are getting more traffic than your “professional” brethren.

I’d put Universal’s reputation for bending over backward for their creators up against any company … in any media. So for you to attempt to sully our reputation with an uninformed comment on a well-read industry message board — is both unacceptable and unprofessional.

And we still do development contracts. But the strip has to be 95% ready to go … not “close.” We don’t have a magic pill that makes a good strip great.

And, maybe I’m just a simpleton myself, but I think you overestimate the amount of “gullible” cartoonists out there, the Web can get you up to speed on the basics of any industry pretty quickly.

But what if you are right? And Sherpa is littered with dimwitted country folk convinced they’re going to be the next Watterson? In the grand scheme of things, if they’ve spent $100 to learn that maybe they don’t have what it takes … instead of flailing away for years, I’d say money well spent.

And you’re entitled to your opinion as to why we do it, but I’ve outlined the reasons why I KNOW we do and yet you still balk.

Fair enough. But it seems counterproductive to continue to try to convince you when you’re so sure of your stance as to analyze our business from hundreds of miles away and armed with seems to be nothing more than your own personal “evil syndicates ripping off the stupid little guy” theory.

Don’t worry, David, I firmly believe that Corey loves us all. He’s just trying to become the “shock jock” of cartooning. Maybe there’s too much Howard Stern playing in the background when he’s inking.

Trying to develop a “bad boy” image in comic geekdom. Now there’s an oxymoron in development.

“But what if you are right? And Sherpa is littered with dimwitted country folk convinced they’re going to be the next Watterson? In the grand scheme of things, if they’ve spent $100 to learn that maybe they don’t have what it takes … instead of flailing away for years, I’d say money well spent.”

A’men to THAT, brother.

Phooey. I spent $100 AND I have been flailing away for years.

Here, here. John, I admit, your first explaination actually was very beneficial, and I confess I learned some things I didn;t know. Thanks for that, bud.
And your most recent post made a verty good point about investing in ones self, that makes me think of another analogy to paying for Comics Sherpa’s service.
Many of us pay for business cards, postcards, one-sheets, our own web domains, supplies, wacom tablets, Cintiqs, those comfy-easy-on-the-tailbone-butt-donut-cushions for our chairs, etc., to further our business plan, as part of our overall expense(and Sherpa creators, yes, your payment for Sherpa is a business expense for your business if you are a freelancer who makes your cartooning any sort of living at all, make sure you’re including it on your taxes as such!). If Sherpa is part of that plan, to drive traffic and interest in one’s work, the same way that set of business cards did, then what the hell is the problem?
And in my honest opinion, there are some damn good strips at Sherpa, such as “Imagine This,” that are attention getting (and in my opinion the NEXT Argyle Sweater or Dog Eat Doug!). Call it the American Idol of comics on the web. There are some Sanjayas, some Clay Aikens, and some Kelly Clarksons out there, and all manner in-between. If you’ve looked at your comic page in the newspaper, the same can be said for those syndicated too. But again, it is the philosophy of “Just Do It.” Which I find to be a positive thing, ultimately.

What I wanna know is, can any Sherpa creators divulge the sort of traffic they get at their Sherpa page, or how beneficial it has been to their core website as a promotional tool? I’d be interested in that.

” So for you to attempt to sully our reputation with an uninformed comment on a well-read industry message board — is both unacceptable and unprofessional.”

Unprofessional? Why…isn’t that one of the pre-requisites of being in the NCS? I do believe that it is.

Rick, does this mean the NCS is loosening their position on professionalism? If so, I would like to formally resubmit my application.

Oh, Snap!!

>>John Glynn wrote:

“I’d put Universal’s reputation for bending over backward for their creators up against any company … in any media. So for you to attempt to sully our reputation with an uninformed comment on a well-read industry message board — is both unacceptable and unprofessional.”

I agree with your assessment regarding Universal’s reputation as a great syndicate to work with. You syndicated me twice. Lee Salem is the best at what he does and I have many friends still at Universal. But let’s drop the accusations of “sullying your syndicates reputation” and “unprofessionalism” and let’s look at it honestly. There is a hierarchy at every syndicate when it comes to talent. Sherpa artists are treated worse than the red-headed step child.

If you asked any cartoonist working in syndication today what they felt about Sherpa and if it’s an ideal avenue towards syndication, or if they’d reccommend it to any up and comers who have syndication aspirations you’d get a pretty much unanimous opinion against it. Pointing that out on a bulletin board where these newcomers congregate may irritate you some but it’s neither unprofessional or unacceptable position to take.

>>>“But what if you are right? And Sherpa is littered with dimwitted country folk convinced they’re going to be the next Watterson? In the grand scheme of things, if they’ve spent $100 to learn that maybe they don’t have what it takes … instead of flailing away for years, I’d say money well spent.”

In the past , that information came in the form of a rejection letter costing the cartoonist nothing but maybe some hurt pride. Now it costs $100 or even more if the artist is willing to pay and Comics Sherpa will cash his checks.

“What I wanna know is, can any Sherpa creators divulge the sort of traffic they get at their Sherpa page, or how beneficial it has been to their core website as a promotional tool? I’d be interested in that”

David: Here’s the breakdown:

Fresh strip: 800+ a day

Rerun: 200-400 a day

Far as I know Sherpa subscription readers are not included in the final tally because they get the strip emailed on a seperate page. Plus, keep in mind each archive page viewed registers as an additional hit. I’ve had readers go thru the entire archive in one sitting which greatly increased the final stats for those days.

Does Sherpa traffic carry over to my core website? Yes, but I regular readers break down to which site they prefer & stick with it. Some prefer blogspot because it’s easier for to scroll down a full page of strips or clicking character/theme menus on blogspot rather than hitting the reverse icon each time on Sherpa. On the other hand, many readers prefer Sherpa’s larger images (blogspot images have to be clicked to full size). Plus on Sherpa I can easily use gif animation (as with the one currently posted), on blogspot animated strips have to be clicked to full size for them to work.

My experience: After sending a submission package to the syndicates years before I was ready, John Glynn got back and immediately put me on comics sherpa. I guess the stuff was good enough to warrant interest and they eventually offered me web syndication, which I had for years until UFS picked me up.

I also wrangled some of the better strips on the site into a smaller collection that we self-published. It was to help promote ourselves and was unaffiliated with Universal. John was nice enough to write the intro for us.

They are paying $100 a year to get their work looked at? That’s chump change compared to what I spend annually promoting myself. Cartooning is a money hole for 99% of creators.

>>>And you’re entitled to your opinion as to why we do it, but I’ve outlined the reasons why I KNOW we do and yet you still balk.

Who’s balking? I think we’re both in agreement as to why you do it. I fully understand the motives.From your own words You get to develop potential talent from a pool of what is mostly ghastly submissions, nothing different there from the traditional model of the syndication process. The worm in the ointment now versus how it was done in the past is that cartoonists never had to pay for the priviledge of having their features assessed. And it was instant feedback. You either had what it takes or you didn’t. But now that process can be drawn out indefinitely as long as the creator wishes to send in his monthly fee. The syndicate gladly takes that money, knowing full well they will never launch 99% of the features. And those that do show potential you get to develop them for free versus paying for that as you did in the past. Actually you make a profit since the cream of the sherpa crop still has to pay their fee.

The income helps supplement paying for the bandwidth and any development deals fees you actually occur when you decide something is worthy. So far that’s amounted one feature from Sherpa in what 7 or eight years. But even if it just breaks even it’s worth it to do since it pays for itself.

You know what would really improve Comic Sherpa? An animated cartoon starring the mustache of John Oats.

“Don’t worry, David, I firmly believe that Corey loves us all. He’s just trying to become the “shock jock” of cartooning. Maybe there’s too much Howard Stern playing in the background when he’s inking.

Trying to develop a “bad boy” image in comic geekdom. Now there’s an oxymoron in development.”

The only things I love live in my house.

As for being a “shock jock”, never was a fan of Howard, who’s quite full of himself. I have always included myself in the sucking, so I’d be a bad “bad boy” of comic geekdom, as it were.

I guess for me, it comes down to “Hey, I can draw these funny pictures, and hey, someone will pay me for them. All right, I’ll do that for a while.”

No over-analyzing, no group therapy as to where, when how and why… And certainly no telling others how to be exactly like me. Can you imagine? “Be a Fake Rockstar! The ass-backwards depressed way!”

I’m just a drunk with a pen and the occasional paper, waiting for the fireworks.

Ha! Kelly, you rock!!! HAHA

$100 may seem like a lot(it’s surely more than paying for a domain and webhosting) but I’m pretty sure(correct me if i’m wrong) Sherpa started before sites like blogger took off.

Sherpa was a way to publish comics without worrying about coding a website, and making archives. These days there’s blogger, and stuff like comicspress.

On sherpa all you had to do was upload a jpeg. they took care of the hosting and they took care of the archive.

That doesn’t mean there were( and still are) problems with sherpa.

Sherpa suffers from the same problems that gocomics and comics.com suffer, the interface. You have to click on a comic which loads up in a new window, then hit the back button and wait for the menu to load again. With the professional sites people generally know what they want to read, or they sign up for the emailed comics page. for someone to read all the comics on sherpa would take quite a while.

And that two column list. How are people supposed to wade through that? They are basically reduced to picking a comic based on how good the title sounds. That is by far the WORST part of Sherpa. Most people don’t want to spend an hour clicking through each and everyone.

The Best (free) model I’ve seen for displaying comics is defiantly by far the AAEC. You just click next, and you can read all the cartoonists that updated for that day. Whoever came up with/made that model, you rule!

The other problem was the fact that Sherpa hasn’t changed at all since it started. And I’m sure there have been calls for changes. The only change they’ve made is getting rid of rating systems(which was faulty). No tracking for visitors, no site states, nothing to gage your readership.

And if you’re paying $100 bucks a year the least they could do is offer a critique at least once a year.

Thank you, Larry. Good info to know. Any others?

Touche. Maybe I was being a little melodramatic.

So let’s drill down to your beef. You’re angry about the $100? That’s in place to keep out people who aren’t committed. I told you we would shut down the service if it was a standalone business.

You’re angry that no one visits the site — Larry has 800 visitors a a day. That’s amazing. And better than a lot of features on GoComics.

You’re angry about the way we treat the cartoonists? We make no promises or guarantees of anything other than what’s in the agreement. It’s a meritocracy. Don’t like it. Don’t sign up.

Just angry in general? … here’s a dime …

Who’s angry?

“You know what would really improve Comic Sherpa? An animated cartoon starring the mustache of John Oats.”

Excellent! I don’t care what anyone says, the idea of John Oates’ mustache being voiced by Dave Attell is comedy gold.

Comics Sherpa chime-in: I had a strip on there for a year and it was worth the money I paid. I got exposure along with feedback and constructive criticism from readers and fellow cartoonists which helped me hone my art and writing.

Is Comics Sherpa the ideal path to syndication? No. The ideal path is mailing a package to syndicates and then getting a call saying “We want your strip.” (Spending only a couple bucks on a mail package vs. $60 on a six-month Sherpa contract.) However, along with the possibility of getting picked up for a development deal, Sherpa also offers a forum for cartoonists to meet and network with each other. I met about a dozen cartoonists through Sherpa who are now my friends. I wouldn’t have met these folks if I only tried the “traditional” route.

Yeah, Sherpa isn’t perfect but the plusses outweigh the minuses. If people choose to try it out, why knock ‘em? We all take different paths in this cartooning world, and Comics Sherpa is a path.

John, You should put me directly on gocomics just to spite Rick!

I haven’t posted on Sherpa recently but look for a massive wave of new strips beginning in a few days!!!

“The only change they’ve made is getting rid of rating systems(which was faulty)”

When Sherpa had the rating system I had someone coming on 50 times a day to vote ‘1′ (faulty is an understatement). But to their great credit, Sherpa removed the system and readers can still privately vote & touch base via the feedback option.

>> Who’s angry?

Me!

But I’m feeling better … I just had some jasmine tea with honey. Very refreshing.

Go look at Rabbits Against Magic and tell me there’s no talent on Sherpa … .

We’re working on making it a better more helpful experience … does that mean it will ever be free? I don’t know. That’s a scary thought. Do we need better ways to navigate? Absolutely. It’s admittedly (many times here) not perfect, but there are a lot of success stories that had some ties to Sherpa. That’s not to say we had any or everything to do with their success … just a fact.

Syndicated:

Brevity
Dog Eat Doug
Argyle Sweater
Matt Bors

Great unsigned strips that are or at one time were on Sherpa:

Tree, Pinkerton, 44 Union Avenue, Imagine That, Mythtickle, Hubert and Abby, Lost Sheep, Bob the Squirrel, , Bleeker the Rechargable Dog, Pursuit of Mandy, Small Wonder, Pigtails and Potbellies, Navy Bean, Green Planet, and many, many, many more … apologies if I’ve forgotten are all great strips on their own that for various reasons we have chosen not to syndicate.

apologies if I’ve forgotten are all great strips on their own … that for various reasons we have chosen not to syndicate.

forgot the ellipsis there … apologies

Whether or not Sherpa sometimes leads to something better, the point is that we cartoonists have to improve our self-image so that we don’t buy into models like Sherpa. This isn’t meant as a dis on John, who has great credentials as a UPS editor, or as a dis on anyone who’s on Sherpa. My point is more about how we cartoonists accept the unacceptable, whether on Sherpa or in any other setting.

I’ve sparred with Rick before, but I’m going to extrapolate and say his and Wiley’s ire have to do with the complete backwards direction that paying a syndicate to run your work takes us in. It’s bad enough we give up 50 percent of revenues. This is a step in the wrong direction.

Until I started meeting NCS cartoonists, comic strip syndication — by no means an automatically rewarding experience, but something I was and am pursuing — seemed like a unattainable castle in an impenetrable, 500-foot high wall. Once I personally met cartoonists and editors, that perception, even before I became syndicated, vanished — and I realized that there was a 500-foot wall around my BRAIN, preventing me from seeing myself as a professional cartoonist.

Out of desperation, I almost posted on Comics Sherpa. I’m really glad I didn’t. In my opinion, it was the wall in my brain – meaning a fearful, unliberated way of seeing myself and my creative life – that let me even consider it.

John, Don’t forget–Sherpa is also the home of AW PRUNES!

Rick left me with an insecurity complex & I need all the home court encouragement I can get :)

As a current content provider of ComicsSherpa, I’d like to offer this…

After submitting my strip, and promptly getting rejected by the syndicates, I got into ComicsSherpa with the dream that this was my shot at the big time. If I worked hard and developed my strip, someone there would take notice and I’d be on my way. Naive? Most definitely - I certainly know that now.

Shortly after, I discovered a little book called ‘How To Make Webcomics’. It opened my eyes and - through the podcasts - ears to what I needed to do to become successful. The great thing about the HalfPixel guys is their frank and supportive take on everything to do with Comics.

Now I use ComicsSherpa as PART of my overall development plan. It’s supplied me with incremental, but increasing exposure and traffic. And to compliment David’s excellent post above, it gave me confidence to work harder and develop my strip. Today I’m admitting my naiveté in my comment here, tomorrow I may tackle another obstacle/objective.

BTW - “One can, and should, do this on their own, but some people need an extra incentive to put themselves in the mindset of producing as though their on deadline.”
This is a good point.

I’ve learned that I may not make it big through syndication, but I can make a living at something I love to do if I work hard and develop a loyal reader base. I need to be able to handle the business as well as the creative end and I don’t mind not getting paid to develop my strip because in the end, I will be in control of my creative and my business.

On a side note, I’m not receiving criticism or accolades from ComicsSherpa so I must be doing it all wrong.

In this day and age, I’m surprised that most of the syndicates haven’t introduced a “web trial” component to their submissions process. While I personally respect the experience and opinions of any syndicate editor, most will admit that they’ve mistakenly passed on a good opportunity in the past. As John mentioned, there’s no “magic pill” for creating a feature that readers respond to.

While I’ve been very tempted to try Sherpa in the past, my ONLY reason for using this service would be to attract an editor’s attention for syndication consideration … But I can already do that via the traditional submission process, so I don’t see any additional benefits.

I’m sure that there’s a core group of cartoonists out there right now who’ve frequently read the words “You’re work ranks among the top that we receive, but …”

As one still seeking syndication, my open suggestion is to create a “web trial” component (similar to a development contract) where the “top” submission packages that you receive are released over a 4 to 8 week period. At the end of this trial, readers can tell you if they’d be interested in reading more … After all, they’re the ones we’re all targeting in the end. The only catch here is that the cartoonists wouldn’t be required to pay for this trial — they’ve already invested enough time with their writing and artwork (and paper and postage costs). Traditional development contracts would follow a successful “web trial.”

Of course, you probably don’t want your competitors to know what features you have in the works, so I think I’ve just killed my own suggestion :)

At the end of the day the only opinions that count are those of the readers. If the strip gives them a good laugh, I did my job correctly!!!

Comics Sherpa may be a fine way to gather an audience at a small price, and I’m sure it has convenient programming, but I can’t believe that many aspiring cartoonists would choose to participate on the site it if it were not for the perception that they were buying an opportunity for Universal to better consider their cartoons for syndication. If Comics Sherpa was a service offered by another company that wasn’t a syndicate, there would be no issue.

John,

You surely know that Comics Sherpa has been criticized for years, and is seen by many cartoonists as cynical and exploitative of the dreams of aspiring cartoonists.

You could put the issue to rest just by no longer charging aspiring cartoonists to be on the site. Run Comics Sherpa from ad revenue, like you do the rest of gocomics.com. If you need to charge something to limit participation to “serious” cartoonists, then have the fee go to charity.

You wrote that the cartoonists’ fees only amount to $1,250/month - that can’t be worth the continuing stain on Universal’s fine reputation, among many in the cartooning community.

It’s not the end of the day here yet.

Steve, Nope–but it’s been much more civil.

Apparently, we’re all pretty passionate about this stuff. Hollywood’s really missing out. “American Idol: Comic Strip Artist” Rick and Wiley can be the judges.